Artist Statement:

These works are from a series simply titled Men, a nod to Willem de Kooning’s boldly titled series of Women. In addition to the small oil paintings presented here, the series includes soft-sculpture installations, large scale drawings and large mixed-media paintings.

As a mother of two boys, I want to participate in a critical dialogue that explores gender and the construct of masculinity (particularly as they apply to the working class and rural Southern US) and the use of rural/working class signifiers by those who are in power. I see the soft-sculptures and mixed-media works as implicating women in this construction—using pants that once belonged to my sons and partner, I’m looking at how I’ve taken on traditional female roles (mending and selecting their clothes).

In these small oil paintings of men, I’m not interested in returning the male gaze, objectifying the male figures as sex objects, or in viewing myself in the male figures. I am interested in reversing the traditional power dynamic between the male artist/intellectual and his female muse/subject. 

Bio:

Vivian Liddell is an interdisciplinary artist in Athens, Georgia who works with painting, fiber and craft techniques, sculpture, printmaking, photography, animation and sound. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she received her BFA from the University of Georgia and her MFA from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Liddell’s work has been featured in solo and curated exhibitions throughout the United States, including at the Wiregrass Museum of Art and the Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences. Liddell hosts a podcast (Peachy Keen) as an extension of her art practice, interviewing women on art and the South. She is an Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at the University of North Georgia, specializing in feminist theory and criticism in contemporary art and craft media in painting.